Thanks for a Great 2008

Thanks to all our couples for a wonderful 2008. We were fortunate enough to photograph weddings in Harrisonburg, Charlottesville, Lexington, Staunton, Waynesboro, Luray, Richmond, Woodstock, Roanoke, Lynchburg, Williamsburg, Virginia Beach, Fairfax, Alexandria, Manassas, Arlington, Reston, Woodbridge, Warm Springs, Winchester...


... Front Royal, Roanoke, Culpeper, and Staunton, plus out of state locations like Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Bethesda, Rockville, Silver Spring, Raleigh, Monterey, Philadelphia, and New York.

Everyone at BlackBird Images wishes you - and for a number of you, your recently born kids or kids on the way - all the best in the years to come.

Don't Be Afraid of Unusual Angles

If the only times you've been professionally photographed were in a portrait studio, you're probably conditioned to the same old poses and camera angles. Even so, be open to trying something different - the results can be striking.

(It also helps that, in this case, there are picnic tables at JMU's Arboretum for us to stand on.)

... But Traditional is Also Great

Our last post may cause you to think we favor non-traditional or heavily-stylized photos. In the end we favor making our clients happy: If you want non-traditional, we'll deliver. If you prefer a classic look, we'll deliver.

For example, one of our wedding favorites from the last couple years is this photo.

Why? It's not stylized or photoshopped or meticulously posed; instead it's clean, simple, clearly evokes a time and a place... and captures both Shelley's warmth and her sense of playfulness.

Most importantly, it's the look she wanted.

Bridal Portraits - With a Twist

Traditional bridal portraits will never go out of style, but more and more brides are looking for something less conventional. In fact, some of the shoots we've done recently would never be defined as bridal, even though that was the clients' intent. They wanted something different... and we think you'll agree they got it.


Keep in mind these take time and effort to shoot - on our part as well as yours. Hair, makeup, location... all are critical. (For the photo above you need to be willing to stand partly unclothed in 40-degree temperatures on a windy beach.) Or you may want something a little less literal and heavily stylized ---


Again, you can't just roll out of bed and get this kind of look. (Great genetics help, too.) But a studio isn't always necessary - we pulled this off under natural light coming through a high window. It was a two-minute setup that turned out to be Michelle's favorite from the entire session, for reasons that are hopefully obvious.

Time of year is critical, too - the cherry trees were in full bloom for less than a week, but they're perfect for the look she wanted.


So if you're looking for something non-traditional, start talking to us now so we can pull all the elements together!

Shenandoah River

We scheduled a sunrise engagement session a few weeks ago and while waiting for the couple to arrive were treated to this. Definitely makes getting up early worth it ----

Church Photos

We tend to focus on faces - kinda natural, since we're wedding photographers, not landscape or architecture photographers. But we've gotten a lot of requests to see church photos, so here are some random ones from the last few months. Bonus points if you can name all four churches.





In order, First Baptist Church, Woodstock; Jackson Memorial Hall, VMI; First Baptist Church, Waynesboro; Parkview Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg.

Renewing Vows - One Week Later

A few months ago we photographed a "second" wedding ceremony; the couple were married in Arizona, went on their honeymoon, then came to Virginia to hold a second ceremony for local friends and family. Here they are outside the Stonewall Jackson Hotel in Staunton (where we've photographed five receptions this year alone.)



We've seen more of this type event in recent years - destination weddings are still popular, but often the couple will limit the guests at the destination and then hold a second service (or just a reception) for those who were not able to travel.


Speaking of the Stonewall Jackson Hotel, they do a consistently great job with receptions. The location is great, the service is excellent... we're always happy to work there. If you're looking for a venue, check them out.

Old Hickory Golf Club - Woodbridge, VA

A few more photos from Kirsten and Ryan's wedding in Woodbridge, VA. Foliage was pretty, but Kirsten looked even more spectacular.

Lucky with Light

Every once in awhile the light is perfect... and you're there when it is.

Fall Weddings...

Quick post to show the splendor of fall foliage... we were in Woodbridge, VA for Kirsten and Ryan's wedding. Kirsten had found this spot less than a mile from the country club where the wedding was held... perfect!

VMI Wedding

Face it - we get to go to pretty cool places to photograph weddings. Last week's wedding was at VMI in Lexington, VA. Here's the bride before the wedding on the parade deck, the huge field circled by a majority of the campus buildings.


You can visit much of the campus anytime, but the barracks are off limits... unless you're with the right company, it seems. Here's the groom and his groomsmen at the entrance to the barracks area - this part of the campus you can see even if you're not a cadet or member of the administration.

So far so good, but then the guys decided they'd like to go inside for a photo where they used to live. What you can see below are the guys on the second floor balcony. What you don't see are the disapproving stares and muttered conversations of cadets who are not at all happy that visitors are inside the barracks. (According to one of the parents, they had only been inside twice during their son's four years at the school on official visiting days.)

I guess it helps to have seven alumni along, including Marine, Navy, and Army officers, if you're going to break a regulation or two.

The Chapel is beautiful; it's a wonderful blend of tradition and history. (By the way, the museum located in the basement includes Stonewall Jackson's horse, Little Sorrel; he looks a little the worse for wear - admittedly, we would too over a hundred years later, stuffed or not.)

The walk back down the aisle is interrupted by the saber arch, a military wedding tradition. (And kudos to the cadets in the honor party; they stood at attention for well over an hour before the service even started.)

The couple aren't allowed to pass until a kiss is exchanged; it's a very cute moment.

We decided to extend the saber arch tradition in honor of the groom's gift to his new bride; here they are in front of the new BMW he surprised her with while we were taking post-ceremony photos.

The cadets are incredibly professional, for want of a better word: They're dignified, reserved, respectful... very impressive. Their demeanor makes them seem older than their years. But right after we took this photo, one of the cadets asked me if we needed them for anything else.

We said we didn't, and thanked them for their help. He then whispered, "What's the deal with the car, anyway?" We told him it was a gift, and he softly said, "Sweeeet..." It was a very cute moment and a reminder that, inside the uniform and the discipline, the cadets are still just kids.

VMI is a neat setting for a wedding, but don't get your hopes up: You have to be an alumni. It is a memorable site, but it was also fun to watch the alumni attending the wedding reminiscing. Clearly the bonds built while at the school last a lifetime. Note in the photo below the groom's sash; that signifies his status as a VMI alumni.)

Congratulations to Jennifer and Parker!

Staunton Bridal Portraits

We saved this post until today to make sure Jennifer's fiancee Parker wouldn't see her bridal portraits before their wedding Saturday - the dress, hair, etc were all a surprise for him.

Downtown Staunton has a number of neat locations... plus Jennifer's classic gown and veil fit right in with the old-town feel.


The train station is a perfect spot - lots of different looks and basically deserted much of the time. And right across the street is a quaint little street... we couldn't resist taking advantage of the red door.


And we also took advantage of the courtesy of a tour group. The city operates a few cable car-ish buses for downtown transportation. We flagged one down and asked the driver if we could use the bus for a few quick images. He was a hesitant, but the tour group (they all had name tags - must have been a tour group) talked him into it. Made for a classic image - and kudos to Jennifer for pulling off an amazing pose with about 50 people watching.

Wedding Planning Advice from Brides #3

More wedding planning advice from couples after their wedding:

"Our motto all along was to keep it simple. We wanted the day to be special but did not want to spend such an enormous amount on the event. With a budget of under $10,000 I think we did a good job and were pleased with the experience. We were able to be budget savvy by utilizing the internet. Our invitations, flowers, vases, ribbon, and bridesmaid dresses were all ordered online.


"Things I loved about the wedding (other than our amazing photographers) were the flowers, the cake, and the bridesmaids' dresses. We saved a ton of money by ordering the tulips from a supplier in Holland. Folks got together the Friday before the wedding to help with the flower arrangements and I even made my own bouquet! The simplicity of having one type of flower throughout was stunning. The bridesmaid dresses were simple and ordered from an online JCrew sale. I know for a fact they have actually worn the dresses again!


"One thing I do recommend to all of my friends is to do a practice run for the hair. I was able to communicate with my stylist and we both understood what I wanted. As such on the day of the wedding I was calm and relaxed, knowing that my look would turn out exactly as I had planned. We also saved money by having the folks at Origins apply my makeup for free! "We were successful in not letting the planning overwhelm us and not get carried away with expensive details.


When I look back, I do sometimes wish we could have changed the venue from the church social hall to a local vineyard. Naturally, that would have cost significantly more money but if I could change one thing, that would probably be it. Overall, the day was wonderful and we were able to enjoy every minute of it. The details all reflected our personalities and style. We are so happy being married and believe that it was the best decision we ever made."

Want to Be a Great Wedding Guest? Here's a Not-To-Do List

A few days ago we did an interview for Fox News, sharing wedding-day horror stories about rude or tacky guest behavior. For fun we thought we'd recap a few here. All the stories are true. Here are some things you should never do at a wedding:

• Arrive less than 10 minutes early. Every wedding has a few latecomers, typically right when the bride is ready to walk down the aisle. More than once all the bridesmaids have entered, the music changes to signal the bride's imminent entry, the doors swing open... and ten people rush in and struggle to find seats. (We've even seen brides have to stop mid-aisle to wait for late arrivals who decide they'd rather sit on the other side of the aisle - and pick that moment to change seats.) The bride's entry is a huge moment - don't spoil it by being late. If you are running behind, linger outside until you know the bride has walked the aisle, then slip in the back relatively unnoticed.
• Leave your devices on. Sounds simple, but at probably 1 out of 4 weddings someone's cell phone rings. You're not that important - turn if off for twenty minutes.
• Dress down. While you may want to be comfortable (who doesn't), dressing up for the wedding shows respect for the bride and groom. If you're not sure what to wear, ask. Over-dressed is always better than under-dressed. Weddings aren't the time to express your individuality.
• Mob the bride and groom immediately after the service. Some guests make a beeline to hug the bride and groom once the ceremony is over. It's a nice gesture, but it spoils any chance the newly married couple has to enjoy a semi-private moment together. Give them a chance to enjoy each other for a couple of minutes - it's the last private time they'll have until the reception is over.
• Complain about the food. The bride and groom likely spent a lot of time planning the menu, even if it's simple and straightforward. There's no way they can accommodate everyone's tastes - don't expect them to. If you don't like what's available, nibble a little and then grab a bite on the way home. While you may think you're complaining about the caterer, in effect you're ultimately criticizing the bride and groom... after all, they chose the food.
• As a matter of fact, complain about anything - or anyone. The bride and groom want their day to be perfect. Sure, another wedding may have been more fun, or more lavishly catered, or had a better band... but who cares? Comments you make are bound to be overheard - don't spoil the couple's day by complaining or gossiping. If you must, save it until you get home.
• Make the wedding about you. Getting drunk and having to be carried out (literally) by security and loaded into the back of an SUV may sound like a funny story to tell your friends later, but for the guests... not so much. Undressing on the dance floor? Making a 15-minute toast explaining how important you are to the bride, instead of talking about how important she is to you? Deciding the bride has to throw her bouquet instead of giving it to her grandmother as she planned? Trying to change the reception schedule, on the spot, without even consulting the couple, because you're positive your way will be a lot more fun? Throwing a fit because the groom doesn't want a posed family photo that includes the guy you met a week ago? In the light of day those don't sound like good ideas, but we've seen every one of them happen. Let the bride and groom set the tone for the wedding, and act accordingly. It's their wedding, not yours.
  

Historic Sites as Wedding Locations

We've noticed that couples are increasingly using historic sites as their wedding locations. Churches, resorts, and wineries are still popular choices, but many couples seem to be looking for something a little different. With a little research you can find a wide variety of venues offering a wide variety of services and amenities.


Some, like the Cyrus McCormack Farm in Steeles Tavern, VA (not too far from Lexington) simply let you use the grounds; everything else is up to you and your vendors to provide. Others, like Charlottesville's Ash Lawn (James Monroe's home) can provide everything, including on-site kitchen facilities for your caterer, tents, a pavilion... basically it's a full-service location.

Finding a spot in your area is easy. Use search terms like "historic wedding site fairfax" or "wedding location historic richmond" and you can find the local government site listing venues. For example, here's the site for Fairfax County, and here's the site for Prince William County. Another added bonus: Costs also tend to be somewhat lower than at for-profit locations.

Newspaper Wedding Announcement Photos

Many couples send wedding announcements to local newspapers after the wedding. (Some submit announcements to multiple papers. The record for one of our couples - that we're aware of, at least - is twelve. Since every paper has different submission guidelines and editorial guidelines, we thought we'd discuss a few of the considerations.

Almost all newspapers allow you to submit photos online by uploading a hi-res jpeg. The problem is the same image may not work as well for different papers. Some prefer portrait images (say, 4 x 5 or 2 x 3) while others request relatively square images (4 x 4 or 3 x 3 is most common). And a few prefer landscape images. To make it more complicated, the New York Times requests portrait images for the announcement itself, but if they feature your wedding in their online section, they also request a landscape photo that's 3 x 6 or 2 x 5. Typically that photo is more of an "action" photo than a headshot; often whether or not your wedding is chosen to be featured is partially based on the quality of the additional photo.

The problem is the same image may not work well depending on the relative size requirements. For example, here's a landscape image.


And here's the same image, but cropped as a square.

From a newspaper point of view, the square image is stronger. If a landscape image was requested, we'd definitely crop the horizontal image differently, even though as is it looks great in an album or a frame. (How you'll display a photo makes a big difference in how it should be cropped.)

On a side note, the New York Times also has pretty specific photo specifications, at least as compared to most papers. Here's an excerpt:

"Couples posing for pictures should arrange themselves with their eyebrows on exactly the same level and with their heads fairly close together. Couple pictures should be printed in a horizontal format.

"Our policy on photographs has changed. While we continue to include formal portraits of couples and individual brides, we also include full-length images of brides in wedding dresses, as well as informal photographs of individuals or couples at home, outdoors or in other attractive settings. Those posing for pictures should be neatly dressed, and the images should be of professional quality."

So, while this is a great photo, the Times would be unlikely to use it due to their "eyebrow level" policy.

The bottom line? Tell us the guidelines of the papers you'll be submitting to, and we'll make sure your images look great while also meeting their expectations.

Wedding Planning Advice from Brides #2

More wedding planning advice from couples after their wedding - this couple had a small wedding (less than 40 people) and were delighted with the outcome:


"We were thrilled to have had a small wedding with our closest family members. It was very meaningful to us to keep it small and intimate. We loved the venue (Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, VA) and were very happy with the overall process, planning, experience, and general logistics.

"If one has a smaller wedding, we would advise people to reach out ahead of time to close friends/family who are not going to be invited. Speaking to these friends/family members personally may help them feel included rather than excluded. This can help prevent mixed messages and post-wedding friction if people find out they are not invited through the grapevine.


"Despite all the stress of weddings, we wish that we could have relaxed more with the planning, preparation, and uniqueness of the event. Sometimes details can seem much more important than they actually are. We think we could have given each other a bit more credit for the planning items each was taking on. We would recommend taking some wedding planning time-outs to spend time with each other and remember why you’re getting married in the first place! At the end of the day, the wedding is not as important as the marriage."

Wedding Planning Advice from Brides #1

We've been asked to write an article for The Knot about what couples wish they’d done differently in terms of wedding planning, whether it was picking a different venue, spending less money (or more money), putting together a different menu, serving drinks (or not), having an open bar (or not), picking favors and decorations differently, etc.

So we asked brides whose weddings we photographed over the last couple years to tell us what they were happy with and, probably more importantly, what they would do differently based on their experiences. We've gotten a lot of responses so we thought we'd post some. Here's the first!

"I was/am incredibly happy with the church that we chose for our wedding. It was a little more costly than some other options that we had, but it was exactly what I pictured when I thought of our wedding. Because we chose a more expensive ceremony venue, we had to be a little more conservative with the choice of our reception site. There were other places that we liked more, but it just wasn't in our budget to have the church we wanted and an expensive reception site. Although we were worried about how the reception would look, we were very happy about it that night. It all fit together very nicely.


"I think brides get so wrapped up in everything being 'perfect,' which I did A LOT. Although I was pretty level headed about the ceremony and reception venue cost, there were many things that when I look back on, I just have to ask, "Why?". Why did I spend almost $90 on red chargers for the centerpieces of the tables that have not been touched since the morning after the wedding? Why did I spend so much on my veil and tiara? The bridal boutiques reel you in. You find the dress you can not live with out, then they put the veil and matching tiara on you while you are standing in front of the mirror... and you can't leave the store without them.

"I am very happy about some things we cut costs on. The only real flowers we had were the roses sitting at each side of the altar (a last minute purchase the morning of the wedding). I am so glad I had artificial flowers. All of the bouquets were done two months before the wedding. I knew exactly what they looked like, so I didn't have to worry about wilting flowers or a bouquet that I did not like.


"As I said, brides get so obsessed with having the "perfect day". Well, I am sorry, it's not going to be perfect. You have to plan on that. You have to have a plan b and a plan c. Our soloist canceled on us just hours before the wedding. My fiance was so scared to call me and tell me; I was at the church getting ready and he tells me she isn't coming. I was totally cool with it, because I had already planned with the pianist in case that happened. My marriage did not depend on one person singing a song at the wedding.

"I'm not going to lie, there were plenty of days that I could strangle someone or totally call the whole thing off and elope. I just remembered to have fun with it. My sister (my matron of honor) thought it was hilarious that I woke up early that morning very nervous. She thought I was scared to get married or worried that something would go wrong. Truly the one thing I was worried about was forgetting the steps to our dance. At that point I had done all the planning I was going to do; if something went wrong then it would be wrong or we would just go without. No one will know what 'should' have happened. We just totally let go and enjoyed the day and I think everyone had an awesome time because of it. We wanted a big party and that's what we had."